SingX aims to help people transfer money abroad cheaper, faster and easier

Why pay more when you don't have to?

SingX is a Singapore-based financial technology start-up which aims to be the Airbnb of cross-border global payments.

"It aims to disrupt the Global Payments market with a peer-to-peer remittance platform which will, over time, eliminate the need to convert one currency to another and further reduce transaction costs," says SingX principal founder and CEO Atul Garg.

SingX's online remittance service will allow users to pay a fraction of typical bank charges, says Garg. The company has launched its first service which allows Singapore-based consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to transfer funds to India, to be followed by Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia and other countries.

SingX's peer-to-peer technology will match consumers' currency exchange needs, eliminating the need to convert from one currency to another. "It offers live foreign exchange rates. These are rates at which banks transact with each other, and customers are only charged a low handling fee of 0.5 percent, which is disclosed upfront," says Garg.

Garg shares he started the business because he could not bring himself to exchange money at airports due to exorbitant mark-ups ranging from 5 to 15%. He felt that it was unfair for money changers to take away that percentage of someone's money for simply exchanging currencies. He shares that, similarly, he was reluctant to use his credit card to make purchases overseas knowing full well that credit card companies mark up foreign currency conversions by three percent. Eventually, Garg says he and a group of likeminded professionals conceptualised a new way to transfer money overseas cheaper, faster and easier.

SingX is targeting consumers and SMEs, the segments Garg and his team believe are underserved and are paying the highest rates for remittances. The business' platform is simple and user-friendly, and customers can register for free to open an account on the company's website.

Regarding the assistance SingX has given its customers, Garg shares that story of a software programmer in Singapore whose family is in India. "As a sole breadwinner, he remits more than 60 percent of his monthly paycheck to his wife in India to manage the household, kids and his parents' expenses. With SingX, (the programmer) saved on the hefty FX markups and fixed charges (cable fees and commissions), which he used to incur," says Garg. Moreover, SingX's same day transfer ensured that the money the programmer sent reached his wife in time, including when his father was hospitalised. "To quote what (the programmer said) about why he uses SingX: 'Why pay more when you don't have to?'" says Garg.

Regarding SingX's future plans, Garg says the immediate action point is to introduce remittances in more currencies to SingX's customers based in Singapore. "There are also a number of products being developed by our R&D team that will expand our services to allow our customers to cross borders in a cheap, fast and convenient manner," he says.